The Midnight Warning

Supposedly based on a real incident which occurred at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. This film fits into the "Pre-Code" genre, only because the "baddies" are not brought to "justice" at the end. The acting is pretty good, although I have to smile when I remember that William "Stage" Boyd was shortly afterwards involved in a famous Hollywood sex scandal, which temporarily ruined the career of William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd when his photograph was erroneously printed in a newspaper along with the scandal story; I can understand why reporters thought it was the "Hoppy" Boyd & not the "Stage" Boyd! A bit too talky at times, but an interesting film nonetheless.

"After a young couple and the woman's brother check into a hotel, the brother turns up missing. While no one at the hotel seems to know where the man is, let alone acknowledge he was even there, the woman decides to hire an investigator to look into the matter. The investigator, his assistant and the young couple find some strange circumstances at the hotel, which lead them to a shocking discovery," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Ah… it's the old vanishing relative plot. This one moves along quite nicely, thanks to writer John Thomas Neville beginning his version from an interesting angle: hotel patron Hooper Atchley (as Steven Walcott) calls upon an old friend, investigator William Boyd (as William Cornish), after finding a human ear bone in his fireplace. Then, Mr. Atchley collapses… The unraveling mystery is engaging; and, the movie works as a filmed stage play.

Columbia Pictures model Claudia Dell (as Enid Van Buren) gets to play frightened in a mortuary, and Robert Harron's brother John ("Johnny" Harron, as Erich) has a good expositional scene explaining his involvement in the intrigue. Forgotten film veteran Phillips Smalley (as Dr. Bronson) is another asset. "Midnight Warning" obviously needs Alfred Hitchcock's direction, and a more satisfying conclusion (see "The Lady Vanishes").

***** Midnight Warning (11/15/32) Spencer Gordon Bennet ~ William Stage Boyd, Claudia Dell, John Harron

The film's premise is pretty good, with some surprise twist and unusual ideas along the way and one of these unusual things about it is that this is basically a murder mystery without an actual murder. Right when his famous inspector friend comes to pay him a visit, a doctor staying in a fancy hotel gets shot through the window. He survives with the bullet only scratching his face, but the inspector takes the case with the doctor playing sidekick and they soon discover, that there is something really fishy going on at the hotel. A gorgeous blonde and his boyfriend gets involved later on and there are some unexpected twists and a rather spooky scene at a morgue to keep us intrigued.

It is not a great movie by any means, but it could be a fun little time-passer with good pacing and some interesting characters, but... then we get to the ending, that just ruins it all. The explanation just does not make any sense whatsoever, instead of wrapping up loose ends it reveals gaping plot holes and the inspector and doctor's reaction is just unrealistic and unbelievably irresponsible. Too bad.

A sister & brother check into a posh hotel. Shortly thereafter, the brother is missing, & despite the sister's inquiries, no one admits to ever having seen the man. Meanwhile, a sniper shoots bullets through the window of the room that the brother & sister stayed in. Is there any connection between these events?

There's a little mystery, a little terror, some spookish pranks, and an eerie mortuary scene that is quite effective in delivering scares, however I found the rest of the film quite average and flat at times and a little confusing - but the denouement at the end for the "strange" going-ons is surprising and offbeat.

"Eyes of Mystery" is actually a rerelease title for 1932's "Midnight Warning," from Mayfair Pictures Corporation, an independent outfit that produced or distributed nearly 40 titles in seven years. William 'Stage' Boyd is back in detective form ("Murder by the Clock"), supported by Poverty Row stalwarts Huntley Gordon, Hooper Atchley, and Henry Hall ("gosh all fish hooks!"). While the plot clearly echoes the true events depicted in Terence Fisher's "So Long at the Fair," this was perhaps the only period in early Hollywood that they could produce a conclusion in this vein, some two years prior to the notorious Hays Code. Claudia Dell was used to midnight mysteries, with future roles in 1935's "Midnight Phantom" and 1944's "Meeting at Midnight" (aka "Black Magic"), a Monogram Charlie Chan and, sadly, her final film.